Defender (association football)
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals. There are four types of defenders: centre-back, sweeper, full-back, and wing-back. The centre-back and full-back positions are essential in most modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised for certain formations. Contents 1 Centre-back 2 Sweeper ( libero ) 3 Full-back 4 Wing-back 5 See also 6 References Centre-back Centre-back John Terry (26, blue) closely marks centre-forward Didier Drogba. A centre-back (also known as a central defender or centre-half) defends in the area directly in front of the goal, and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers and marking forwards to discourage the opposing team from passing to them. The common 4–4–2 formation uses two centre-backs. With th...